A law effective on October 1, 2014, requires that all medical spas employ – either on staff or by contracting for services – a physician, physician’s assistant (PA) or advanced practice registered nurse (APRN). It also mandates that at least one of those medical professionals perform an initial physical assessment of every med-spa client before any procedure is performed. For more information, click the article here.

With the new law, medical spas will need to look at their patient workflow, and add precautions and standard operating procedures to safeguard themselves.

Managing inventory at your practice is easy with patientNOW’s practice management software. We spoke with Esther Marlow, Front Office and Injectables Manager at Aesthetics by Design, to ask for her advice on how she does this at her practice in Englewood, CO. Read more

The importance of managing inventory can have a significant impact on aesthetic medical practices. Having an effective and efficient process in place to manage product inventory is necessary to not only maintain product but also to replenish product and protect practice revenue. The cost of inventory is relevant to a medical practice and having an inaccurate system of accounting for your product inventory could create an improper need for additional storage space, added shipping costs, low inventory, stale product and could even promote theft. Here are 3 easy steps to consider in managing your practice’s inventory.

PatientNOW spoke with Dr. Douglas Hendricks, a long-time customer and super user of the Medical Records Studio version, about how important before and after photos are to him in his office, and how he sets up a photo management protocol with his staff and practice. He explained how having the photos readily available for usage during consultations and post-op is very key.

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a before-and-after photo is probably worth at least $1,000 per week to an aesthetic medical practice. The results that you provide to patients speak not only to your skills, but also provide a reference and educational platform for new and existing patients interested in treatments.

Implementing a before-and-after photo protocol into your practice is very important. This will serve as a standard operating procedure (SOP) for every patient that comes into your practice.

HOW DO YOU CREATE AN SOP FOR PHOTO MANAGEMENT?

Before-and-after photos are vital parts of the patient record. It helps to document visual changes from treatment, it defines where adjustments should take place in some cases, and it also helps to identify other opportunities for treatment.

Your practice should evaluate the process of consenting, gathering, taking and archiving of your before and after photos. We will go through some tips and tricks to be sure that you are covering all of the bases in order to have an efficient photo management system.